The contact tracing needs of a business are different

07 April, 2020 · SaferMe team

The contact tracing needs of a business, are different to a nation state.

Let's explain why.

Background: Contact tracing is a technique used to figure-out who has been in contact with someone infected and could get sick. It's what governments do to try and halt the spread of COVID-19. Often manually, but also with technology.

In particular, there are public apps being released by government departments globally, that try to automate contact tracing and make the process manageable at scale - for example Israel and Singapore’s apps.

However, these public apps generally have difficulty getting to saturation.

In contrast, business focused contact tracing apps can get to saturation.

In our view there will be many more of these public apps released by nations around the globe, but they will not properly satisfy the needs of businesses.

Because businesses need to know which staff have been in close contact* with other staff members. Fast.

Watch this video to learn more.

By getting ahead of a positive test, not only can a business increase the likelihood that most of their team can stay at work and operations can be sustained, but even more importantly they can keep their staff and customers as safe as they reasonably can!

There are significant issues with paper and whiteboards for contact tracing, visitor management software, and the bluetooth beacons that are currently being implemented by businesses - more information can be found here.

The problem with the public facing apps, from the point of view of a business, is they usually don’t share important information early enough - for privacy reasons. They are often not compulsory either.

*Close contact can be defined as: a) being within approximately 6 feet (2 meters), of a person with COVID-19 for a prolonged period of time (such as caring for or visiting a patient; or sitting within 6 feet of a patient in a healthcare waiting area or room); or b) having unprotected direct contact with infectious secretions or excretions of the patient (e.g., being coughed on, touching used tissues with a bare hand).